Valentine Wishes (Baxter Academy Book 1)

by Jane Charles

  “Theo…,” Uncle Gary warns.

  “Don’t!” Mrs. Baxter points to her son-in-law. Clearly she is on Theo’s side and not offended by his language. If I had said fuck in front of my parents, let along grandparents when they were alive, I would have been soundly slapped.

  “I can see it. You are already dismissing this as a possibility and you haven’t even checked into it, let alone thought about for more than fifteen minutes.”

  “It just seems like a huge endeavor that we might not be prepared for,” another uncle says. I can’t remember his name right now.

  Theo is shaking his head. “I can’t believe you. Any of you, except Grandmother and Jackie. At least they listened and think it’s worth looking into. You’ve already dismissed it and think the summer camp is good enough. You’re probably patting yourself on the back for your good deeds. Well it’s not enough. It will never be enough.” He looks around the table. “You disgust me and for the first time in my life, I am so fucking disappointed in all of you.” With that, he turns and runs off into the woods.

  Jackie stands. “I’ll go after him.”

  I’m left there, sitting in the middle of what started as an enjoyable family picnic surrounded by strangers, to being right in the middle of a huge dispute and everyone around me has just basically been told to fuck off. No, this isn’t uncomfortable at all.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Hey,” I call out to Theo. He’s standing at the stream by the fishing shack. It’s his place to go when he wants to get away and is tossing pebbles into the water.

  “Go away.”

  That is the last thing I’m about to do. “They didn’t say no.”

  “They might as well have.” He throws another rock.

  “It’s a lot to take in. It’s a big plan.” Huge and I don’t see how it can be accomplished. State regulations alone are a pain in the ass, then all the details for running a school, where the kids will live or bussed in, schedules, graduating requirements, teachers…so much to think about that doing so make my head hurt.

  “They dismissed me.” He turns and glares.

  There’s a hint of moisture in his green eyes. I can’t remember the last time Theo cried about anything, but he’s barely holding it together. I knew he was passionate about the school, but it’s just hitting me how important this really is to him.

  “They might as well have patted me on the head and sent me off to play with the kids.”

  I wince. “It wasn’t that bad.”

  He shrugs. “Close enough.”

  He’s right. I could see it in their eyes. At first they listened, but soon lost interest.

  “I doubt anyone will even look into it to see if it’s possible.”

  “I will,” I blurt out. This is too important to Theo and for the first time he has something he cares about. He hasn’t cared about anything since he woke up from the coma and I will do everything in my power to find out everything we need to know to go forward.

  “When? You start your new job in August and won’t even be around, and now you have Brett in your life.”

  I bite my lip. I never told Theo that I turned down the job. “I won’t be teaching next year.”

  “What?” He looks at me as if I’ve gone mad.

  “I thought that since it’ll also be the first year of working on my masters that I should concentrate on that first and then add teaching to the mix.” It’s a half-truth but if I told him the real reason, he’d be pissed. More pissed than he already is.

  Theo narrows his eyes on me. “Really? And where are you going to live?”

  “Here, of course. I only have to be in the city two days a week for classes so there is no point in getting an apartment when I can just take the train.”

  “Are you sure you didn’t do this because of me?”

  “Um, why?”

  “Are you fucking stupid?”

  I take a step back.

  “It’s a job, your career and you want to stay home and mother me.”

  “That’s not it at all,” I argue.

  “Don’t lie to me. It’s bad enough they dismiss me, but don’t treat me like I’m an idiot, Jackie. I expect better of you.”

  I just blink at him. I knew he wouldn’t want me home because he doesn’t want to be babied, but that isn’t what I’m doing. I just want to help him get through his last year of high school. It still won’t be easy, but I need to be there for him.

  “A lot of things figured into my decision.”

  “Yeah?” He fists his hands on his hips. “What?”

  “The masters program is going to be hard.”

  He nods.

  “Grandmother is moving slower these days. Surely you noticed.”

  “I can take care of Grams.”

  “You’ve got to worry about school.”

  He snorts. “It appears you’ll be doing that for me.”

  “That’s not true,” I yell even though it is, kind of. “There is also Brett.”

  He pulls back. “You just met the guy.”

  “Yeah, I know.” I shrug. “I’ve never met anyone like him and I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I don’t want to be hours away either.”

  He’s shaking his head. “Since when do you turn down a job for a guy?”

  “That’s not the only reason,” I remind him.

  “Well, at least admit that I figure in to part of your decision.”

  I look into his eyes. Theo does deserve my honesty. “Yes. I’m worried about you, about Gram, and school.” This is the first time I’ve admitted to myself that Grandmother is a concern too. Her mind is still sharp, and she gets around okay, but she’s certainly slowed down. She also denies anything is wrong, so I haven’t argued with her, but I saw her heart medication when I was checking Theo’s meds. I didn’t really know what she was on until I looked them up. The woman is about to turn sixty-five and at her age, too old to be in charge of an eighteen-year-old with mental and physical health issues.

  “Well, I promise you won’t have to worry about me or school come the fall.”

  The hairs go up on the back of my neck and the finality of his statement. “Why?”

  “It’s all gonna be good. I’ve got a plan. You just work on getting the family to agree to build a school.”

  He strolls away, disappearing in to the foliage, leaving me unsettled. What plan could he possibly have? Unless he’s going to be serious about trying the meds for longer than a day. That would be nice for a change.

  The party kind of died after Theo stomped off. The aunts and uncles started cleaning up and Mrs. Baxter insisted I take her back to the house.

  “Sometimes I just want to knock their heads together,” she grumbles after getting in my car.

  I don’t say a thing. Any comment from me could go either direction because they aren’t my family.

  “If my husband were alive, he’d be so disappointed in each and everyone one of his children.” She bangs her fist on the console. “I’ve a mind to cut off each and every one of them, and have the power to.”

  I thought everything was in a trust. Unless she controls it.

  “My husband, nor the men before him, ever let a little thing like it may be too difficult keep them from helping or making a better place for someone.”

  She turns in her seat. “They’ve gone soft and forgotten.” She faces forward again. “And, I’m about to remind them.”

  I pull into the drive and cut the engine before walking around the passenger side.

  “You’re a good boy,” she says as she starts to get out of the car, but falls back in the seat.

  “Are you okay?”

  Sweet breaks out on her brow and Mrs. Baxter clutches her chest. Oh shit.

  “My pills,” she whispers and closes her eyes, her face scrunched in pain.

  “Where?”

  “Above…sink…kitchen.”

  I don’t want to leave her alone but she needs meds, and an ambulance. “I’ll be right bac
k.” I rush into the house and turn into the dining room, assuming it is off the kitchen and run to the sink. There has to be about twenty prescription medications in the cabinet. I grab the bottles, tossing aside the ones for Theo and read the labels for Helen Baxter. Nitro! That must be what she wants. I grab it and rush back out.

  Jackie is already there, kneeling at the side of the car. I open the bottle and take out a pill. “Open.”

  She does and lifts her tongue. I drop the pill in and sit back. In one hand, Jackie is holding her phone. In the other, her grandmother’s hand.

  “Ambulance should be here shortly,” she whispers as tears fill her eyes.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Where is he?” I mutter to myself. Last night, after Grandmother was put in her room and hooked up to all kinds of monitors and her surgery scheduled, we finally left the hospital. After taking me home, Brett promised that he would come to the hospital this morning to sit with me while she had surgery. The doctor thinks it is a blockage, but won’t know how bad until they are in there.

  I didn’t ask Brett to come sit with me. I am a big girl and don’t need him to hold my hand. He offered, and said that he would be here. He knew when surgery was scheduled, which was two hours ago, but he never showed.

  If he didn’t want to be here, then he shouldn’t have said he’d be here or made the fucking promise. That’s what pisses me off more than anything. Don’t promise to be somewhere and then not show. Don’t make the fucking promise in the first place if you have no intention of following through.

  But, what if something happened to him?

  No. I can’t think that way.

  “Did you call him?” Theo asks.

  “Who?”

  He tilts his head and just stares at me. We both know who he means.

  “Twice. No answer.”

  “I’m sure he has a reasonable explanation.”

  There’s no such thing. Either there are dire circumstances that prevent him from calling, for which I will forgive him, if they are dire enough, such as being unconscious and unable to punch in a number on a phone. Or, he doesn’t think breaking a promise is that important, for which I won’t forgive him.

  “It’s either one or the other for you, isn’t it?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’re pissed because he hasn’t called. Yet, you’re worried sick that he’s dead in a ditch somewhere.”

  My brother knows me too well.

  “Something could have happened that just prevents him from calling.”

  “In the age of cellphones, I find it hard to believe.”

  “What if he’s somewhere that gets no reception?”

  “As that somewhere isn’t here, it doesn’t really matter, now does it?”

  My entire family has filled up the waiting room, well, except for the kids. They are at home waiting for news. Theo and I are the only grandkids here. Our aunts and uncles are all sitting around talking quietly, Theo is not talking to them and I’m going back and forth between worrying about my grandmother in surgery and wondering if Brett is in a mangled car in a ditch somewhere.

  I know I shouldn’t jump to the worst case scenario, but I can’t help it. The only reason a person doesn’t show when they are supposed to is that they have no consideration for the other person, or they are dead. There is no middle road.

  I’m just surprised Brett shows me so little regard. Before he even knew me he called two places to make sure I knew he had a flat tire and he was going to be late. Now, one day after he fucked my brains out, he’s a no show. Was he just doing and saying what he needed to fuck me? Was that all that was? He got what he wanted and now can’t be bothered?

  It’s not what I expected from him, but it’s a lesson learned. All guys, no matter how promising, are fucking dickheads.

  “I can’t believe you,” Theo says with disgust.

  “What?”

  “I just watched your facial expressions go from worried to pissed to you just wrote him off.”

  “He isn’t here,” I remind my brother.

  “He isn’t our parents either,” he argues. “Give the guy a fucking chance.”

  “Hey, is that the Brett guy you brought to the picnic?” Uncle Mark points to the television. It’s been on a news channel all morning.

  I glance up as Uncle Gary is turning up the volume. Some guy in a suit is making a live statement and in the background is Brett, a notebook out and writing while he talks to someone.

  “All we know now is that the family was murdered sometime after midnight. The call came in at two in the morning when someone driving by spotted a fire in the living room. Firefighters were able to put out the blaze before it reached the rest of the house and that’s when we discovered the bodies. The FBI was called in as soon as we learned the two children are missing from the home. A search party and dogs are combing the area and we are asking any witnesses to come forward as we continue the investigation. The two children missing are a girl of six and another who is four.” Their pictures flash on the screen. Then the speaker gives the number to the hotline and declines questions.

  I can feel Theo’s eyes on me, almost accusing me for jumping to conclusions.

  “He still could have called,” I grumble and scrunch down in my seat. I’m also relieved he’s not injured or dead somewhere. I get that the case is important and who knows what time they got him out of bed, but he still could have called.

  My phone dings and I looked down, wondering if he’s texting me. Instead it is another strange number.

  A boy like that wants one thing only

  A chill runs down my spine and I glance around. What the hell? These are beyond creepy now. It’s as if someone read my mind. Nobody is in here but my family and none of them are one their phones. The hairs stand up on the back of my neck and I glance out into the hall, a lot of people have walked past the waiting room since we got there. Is one of them watching me?

  No! That is ridiculous. Someone just has a wrong number and when I know Grandma is going to be okay, I’ll deal with it.

  Jackie called me twice but I couldn’t answer because I was in the middle of talking to my supervisor. Then, I followed the lead agent around, photographing the scene and taking notes. This is the first real crime scene I’ve been on. Not a simulation we ran at the academy. There is so much to take in and try to remember, and I’m trying to piece it all together. There have been discussions of how the perpetrator got into the house when the front door was still bolted, but then discovered the backdoor off the kitchen wide open. It’s still too soon to speculate if the murder came in through that door or only exited. The beds of the two little girls were slept in, but there isn’t a sign of them anywhere. I spent an hour going through the basement, looking in the crawlspace and every cubby hole or box a small child could hide in, but they aren’t anywhere in the house. That’s what has me worried. The longer it takes to find them, the closer we move to worst case scenario.

  This is the first time I’ve had a chance to make a call, and only because the lead agent said we needed to stop, think and consider. And, get a cup of coffee, and check in wherever we needed to. He said that sometimes refocusing the brain helps you focus back on the problem. Kind of like cleaning the unimportant cookies from the hard drive and freeing up space.

  Mrs. Baxter’s surgery began four hours ago. I’m almost afraid to call Jackie since her first call to me was one hour in. Had something gone wrong or was everything good?

  I click on her name and press to call. It rings five times before going to voicemail.

  “Hey, sorry I couldn’t call before now. Was called out on a case. Call me when you get a chance. I hope your grandmother’s surgery went well.”

  I end the call and stare at my phone. Maybe she’s busy or something.

  I try again an hour later, after I’d gotten something to eat and gone over the statements and what we know with the other agents. It’s as if the girls just disappeared. Which is impossible, and
means whoever killed the family and torched the house, took the kids. My stomach clenches with concern over why kind of person would do this.

  I didn’t do well in the simulations involving kids. This is ten times worse. The bodies of the parents and an unknown adult, all with shotgun blasts to their heads, were bad enough, but missing kids was the worst.

  “Tough one,” one of the agents says as he comes up beside me and leans against the car.

  I take a sip of my coffee and nod. “Anything new?”

  “Maybe. Wife was divorced and remarried. Dad wasn’t happy when he didn’t get custody. A bunch of restraining orders were filed and he lost all visitation rights.”

  “Where’s Dad?”

  “That’s what we are tracking down now. As soon as we know, we go after him.”

  “Poor kids.” Their mom’s been murdered and their dad probably did it. Hopefully there’s a loving family member to take care of them.

  I try calling Jackie again, before we start gathering up our gear. Still no answer. “Just checking in. Call me.”

  Is she ignoring me or can’t talk? Did things go bad with her grandmother?

  Damn, I wish I knew.

  It’s another two hours before we are ready to leave. Photos have been taken outside, inside, of the bodies, tire tracks, blood splatter, fingerprints, and even family photos. The place has been dusted and printed, and there’s really nothing left to do except get everything back to the lab. I drop my case in the back of my car and try Jackie one more time.

  “Hey, Brett.” It’s Theo, not Jackie, but at least someone answered.

  “Is Jackie around?”

  “She’s talking to the doc right now.”

  “How’s your grandmother?”

  “Pulled through great. They are going to keep her in ICU just to make sure everything goes okay.”

  It’s eating at me that she didn’t call me back. “I tried to call Jackie a couple of times.”

  “I know, she ignored them.”